A Night Out With My Kids - "The Bee Movie"

I took my two older kids to see "The Bee Movie" two night ago.  This was a reward that my wife and I established for them to help them get along better this past week, since they have been arguing a bit more lately.  Our choices were this movie or "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium", which is rated G and looks somewhat interesting, but was panned thoroughly by critics. 

While we were in the car on the way there, my son began to tell us what to expect from the movie. 

"At the beginning, a bee named Barry leaves the hive, then..."

"Wait a minute," I said, "Where did you hear about the plot for this movie?"

"From a TV commercial, and from National Geographic Kids magazine." he said. 

"Let's not talk about it.  I just want to enjoy it, and so does Aleah." I said.

Then Aleah chimed in with, "I know how the beginning starts, too." I was thinking to myself that this was not going to be the wonder-filled night that I had originally planned.

She continued, "I think something is going to spell out, "THE BEE MOVIE"."  This was both exceptionally accurate and perceptive on her part, and it didn't even ruin the plot for any of us.

 I knew that I had to stop and get some cash on the way there, and if you know me very well, you know that I don't allow a lot of room for error when I am trying to make it to any appointment, including a movie. 

I pulled into the bank, and headed directly to the drive-through ATM machine.  I inserted my card, then put in the PIN number, then requested $60 from checking. 

UNAUTHORIZED TRANSACTION

CARD RETAINED

What?!?  I couldn't even begin to imagine what that was all about.  I decided to continue on the off chance that they took credit cards at the theater, although I was virtually positive that they did not.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was wrong, so we made it with a couple of minutes to spare.  (It turns out that my bank had already sent me a new card which was sitting in my unopened mail - they said that they thought that many of their debit cards had been "compromised by a third party institution", whatever that might mean).

The only complaint that I had about the movie experience was the especially scary preview for "The Spiderwick Chronicles" that made me want to cover my eyes, too (not really, but it was quite intense for a kids' movie). 

We all enjoyed the movie, and I would highly recommend it for a family outing of your own.  There are plenty of jokes to keep parents interested, and the overall message is sound.  Much of it has to do with believing in the power of teamwork and the ability to overcome big obstacles.  There is also a rather big lesson about the environment.  Having Jerry Seinfeld as the main character's voice also certainly didn't hurt, since I am a big Seinfeld fan. 

Thanks for reading!